All courses, craft kits and handcrafted gifts in South West

COVID UPDATE- 24th Feb, 2021 Further to Government announcements on 22nd February we are pleased to confirm we will be re-opening Vlakvark Forge for 1 Day, Weekend and Axe Making Experiences from Saturday, 17th April. We are limiting the number of attendees to 6 for the time being as this allows for good social distancing within the forge. We will have doors and windows open as required for good ventilation so perhaps wear a few layers when you come if the weather doesn’t look so good. Can you handle the...

HOORAH! I am going to open up my Studio for one-to-one only workshops from June 2021, when hopefully the majority of us will have had both our vaccines. If you would like to message me, we can agree a date. Can’t wait to see you all again. Create a unique painting with layers of molten beeswax, damar resin and pigments. This ancient medium was originally used by the Egyptians to create portraits. Still relatively unknown, and yet so mesmerising. Working on a wood panel, I will give you personalised tuition...

Welcome to Fazey Woodcraft... In this workshop you will learn all the skills and techniques needed to craft your own wooden spoons by hand, using just an axe & knife. Jack Fazey has been working with wood for over 10 years, carving spoons for about 8 years, and teaching for even longer. In his safe, competent hands you will be guided through the safe use of the axe, sloyd knife and crook knife, as well as shown how to select wood for carving, keep your tools sharp and ultimately how...

COVID-19 ~ We are planning to run a full programme of courses during 2021 starting in May. Full precautions will be taken in our spacious outdoor workshop area. These six-day green wood chair making courses cover all the green woodworking skills and processes needed in order to construct your own chair from a green ash log. The techniques include cleaving out and shaping the components, drying some of the components overnight in the wood-fired kiln, steam-bending some of the components to give them the correct form, cutting and drilling mortises...

Take inspiration from the 16th century mill and its peaceful surroundings on the River Stour in North Dorset. Set in water meadows and surrounded by trees, it has hardly changed since Thomas Hardy, who lived across the fields ,often visited it over 100 years ago. Working from patterns or your own sketches if preferred, you will be shown the various stages used to build up a landscape incorporating the layering techniques that I have developed and my own techniques of using colour and texture to create depth. No specific sewing...

Learn the techniques that I have developed and use in making my still life textile work. Make your own patterns from favourite objects that you bring along (or from objects in my collection), working with painted and printed fabrics, layered and stitched in place to create vibrant and intricate arrangements. As in my landscape courses, no specific sewing skills or sophisticated machines are necessary but please bring a machine, scissors, fabrics that particularly inspire you(I will also have a good supply of fabric available) and, of course, items that you...

Using your hands and fingers and some chunky yarn, create a fab woolly wreath. Once you have purchased the workshop, I will send you a message so you can select your wreath yarn colour and co-ordinating bow. I will then send you, by post giant chunky acrylic, Woolly Mahoosive yarn and a wire frame to create a wreath for your home. You will also receive a password to the online tutorial videos. All you will need is a pair of scissors and your hands and fingers to do the knitting!...

It is very exciting to be able to offer this new Silver Jewellery Making course at 'White Stones Studios' on Portland. Over the five week course on Tuesday mornings, from 10 am to 2pm, students will be taught all about piercing, texturing, forming and soldering silver. There will be an introduction to stone setting and you will be designing and creating a silver ring, bangle or pendant. Making silver jewellery is a hobby in which there is so much to learn. Students will be more than welcome to return and...

This new course will focus on carving bold raised letters into stone. This course is taught in my spacious studio where we will have plenty of space for social distancing, each student will have their own work station and I can provide gloves and face masks. On day one you will begin by looking at raised letter design design and most particuarly Neuland Script. We will then design our letters to form a short word four or five letter word in this bold chunky style where the letters are raised...

This online freehand Machine embroidery workshop will take place on Zoom. The workshop runs for 3 hours and is suitable for beginners. I will cover the basics from hooping up your fabric and setting up your machine to 'drawing' with it and adding splashes of colour with raw edge applique. Before the workshop I will send out a kit which contains: - An Embroidery Hoop - Calico fabric - Fabric stabilizer - Applique fabrics* - Bonda Web - Clip Art - Full instructions When you book on to the workshop...